As a blogger who has authored several successful books with publishers, and who works on WordPress.com, I recently self-published a book based entirely on posts from my blog. I wanted to see what I could learn, and I’m here to share it all with you.

Facebook just announced that “it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.” The deal consists of “approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook” and “is expected to close later this quarter.”

The popular photo app debuted alongside the iPhone 4 and has counted some 30 million registered users who upload about 5 million photos per day. The company recently released the app for Android users as well.

Photo sharing is big business for Facebook, and Instagram has the kind of mass appeal to make it a good acquisition by the social-networking giant — perhaps Facebook is shoring up its feature set as it prepares for its long-awaited IPO. You may recall that Facebook had reportedly been toying with Instagram-like features as far back as last August.

(CNN)– Timothy Freke was flipping through an old academic book when he came across a religious image that some would call obscene.

It was a drawing of a third-century amulet depicting a naked man nailed to a cross. The man was born of a virgin, preached about being “born again” and had risen from the dead after crucifixion, Freke says.

But the name on the amulet wasn’t Jesus. It was a pseudonym for Osiris-Dionysus, a pagan god in ancient Mediterranean culture. Freke says the amulet was evidence of something that sounds like sacrilege – and some would say it is: that Jesus never existed. He was a myth created by first-century Jews who modeled him after other dying and resurrected pagan gods, says Freke, author of “The Jesus Mysteries: Was the ‘Original Jesus’ a Pagan God?”

(CNN) — I’ve been among the millions mourning the killing of Trayvon Martin, but I’m also mourning the fact that another recent killing has gotten little national attention.

Last week, a 32-year old Iraqi Muslim mother named Shaima Alawadi was found brutally beaten with a tire iron in her El Cajon, California, home and died three days later. A note reportedly left beside her said, “Go Back to your country, you terrorist.”

As an Arab-American Muslim mother of three, I instantly thought about myself and my family.

Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 33, are charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill in connection with last week’s shootings, which also wounded two people.

A day before the shootings, a post on England’s Facebook page said it was the second anniversary of his father’s death “at the hands of a f**king n****r.” CNN’s Jason Carroll reported that officials are looking into the posting, which may indicate that he never got over the fact that his father was killed by a black man.

A post in which England said it was time to get ready for another funeral is…

[Updated at 12:11 p.m. ET] State Attorney Angela Corey, appointed as a special prosecutor in the February shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, has decided against sending the case to a grand jury, her office said Monday.

“The decision should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case,” Corey’s office said in a statement.

The grand jury, set to convene on Tuesday, was previously scheduled by the former prosecutor.

Corey previously said she has not used grand jury’s in cases like this and added that from the time she was appointed she said she may not need a grand jury.

The decision about whether or not to charge George Zimmerman in the case now rests with prosecutors.

“At this time, the investigation continues and there will be no further comment from this office,” in the statement.

In the new book, You Don’t Know, Williams recalls the incident, which she says occurred when she was visiting family friends in California and the family’s 18-year-old daughter came into her room one night.

“[She] pulled down the bloomers of my cotton baby-doll pajamas,” Williams writes. “‘What are you doing?’ I asked. ‘Don’t worry—it’ll feel good.’ I lay there paralyzed. What was going on? I didn’t speak. She kept at [the molestation] for I don’t know how long. She slid my bloomers back up and whispered: ‘Don’t tell anyone.'”